Sammeesam Posted October 15, 2017 #1 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Hello everyone We are about to embark on our first cruise aboard Azura and the Select dining restaurant options look really good especially The Glass House, £4.95 for three plates. Could you please give me your thoughts about Select dining and is it a good idea to visit on formal nights or non formal nights? Also, is the afternoon tea in Epicurean worth paying for? I've read afternoon tea is served both in the restaurant and also at the buffet? Three venue choices for afternoon tea? I assume it's a major part of the day? Thanks all, in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianI Posted October 15, 2017 #2 Share Posted October 15, 2017 There is an enhanced 'gala' menu in the main restaurants on formal nights so we prefer this to any select venue. The afternoon tea in the restaurant ( 4-4.45pm) is more than adequate and do not see the need to pay extra. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Selbourne Posted October 15, 2017 #3 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Hello everyone We are about to embark on our first cruise aboard Azura and the Select dining restaurant options look really good especially The Glass House, £4.95 for three plates. Could you please give me your thoughts about Select dining and is it a good idea to visit on formal nights or non formal nights? Also, is the afternoon tea in Epicurean worth paying for? I've read afternoon tea is served both in the restaurant and also at the buffet? Three venue choices for afternoon tea? I assume it's a major part of the day? Thanks all, in advance. We are great fans of Select Dining Restaurants but they do vary by ship. We eat in The Glass House when we return to the ship on port days if we have missed the main dining room (MDR) lunch and occasionally on sea days. The catch of the day is usually excellent (even though you get about 6 thick chips only:() and the steaks are much better than in the MDR. The wine flights are a great way to try something new or different. Food has been very good in all of the ones we have tried but service was very slow on Britannia. Epicurean on Britannia is our favourite restaurant at sea. True fine dining. Most on here will say that it’s not worth the £28 per head supplement but we think it’s worth every penny. Nothing else on a P&O ship comes close. Haven’t tried the one on Azura (it was branded something else when we were on board) but the one on Ventura was nowhere near as good as Britannia. Sindhu (Asian Fusion from Atul Kocher) generally meets with good reviews. Curry is my favourite food but I prefer the MDR curries produced by the superb Goan chefs than any curry that I have had in Sindhu, but my wife and daughters love it. Service has been excellent in all of them. Again, my favourite one is on Britannia. Ventura was fine but Aurora poor. We always use MDR’s for formal nights as the food is much better (lobster, beef wellington etc) as you get the Marco Pierre White and other top quality menus. Seems pointless to pay extra elsewhere when the food is that good. We use Select Dining on casual nights, when the MDR menu, whilst still good, is not of the same standard. We rarely have afternoon tea as we usually have breakfast, lunch and dinner and never feel hungry in between. The Eric Lanlard Afternoon Tea is not popular with the majority of users of this forum. Most will tell you that there are too many sweet items and not enough savoury. This is true, but you simply ask for more sandwiches if you want them. The patisserie items are superb and, in our view, make the experience worthwhile. Ambiance and service are exemplary and you get excellent choice of teas etc all served beautifully. Unless you are on a tight budget, I would advise everyone to try it once. We find the MDR version to be a very budget experience in comparison and you have to share a table, which makes the self selection from communal plates slightly awkward. We don’t use the buffet, other than lunch on embarkation day (when there is no other choice) due to hygiene concerns, so others will have to inform you about their version. So, in summary, we are fans of the Select Dining concept. We would rather pay a bit more for a better experience when the mood takes us and you do get what you pay for. That said, if they didn’t exist and there was no other option than the MDR I would still consider the food to be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanexile81 Posted October 15, 2017 #4 Share Posted October 15, 2017 We're also fans of Select Dining. On a recent, port-intensive cruise on Britannia, we preferred to be on our own for dinner so mainly ate in The Glass House and Limelight Supper Club, but also ate in the Beach House. We don't tend to eat in the Epicurean because we like something more casual on holiday. We've never eaten in the buffet in all our cruises but that's also an option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jody75 Posted October 15, 2017 #5 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Ever since cruise ship introduced Specialty Dining the food standards in the MDR has suffered badly. Don’t be tempted to order steak in the MDR, the quality is disgraceful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annieuk Posted October 16, 2017 #6 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Well on our last two cruises, one on Ventura and one on Aurora, the steaks I had in the MDR were fine - not as good as on offer in Epicurean on Ventura but good all the same. I usually like a steak medium rare and if we are in a Select Dining Restaurant, that is what I've ordered. However, in the MDR I've discovered I can get what I call a medium rare steak by asking for it to be served Rare. Then it seems to come just as I like it. I would say that for what is on offer the price of the Epircurean on Azura, we first knew it as Seventeen before they changed it's name to fit in with the others in the fleet, is well worth it. We last paid £28pp, it may have gone up since then I'm not sure. For that price the meal has always been exceptional. We have twice had the Chateaubriand, which you both have to have, and it was amazing. I know people say that it's expensive when you've already paid for the food in the MDR but this is on a completely different level. To pay £28 or £30 for the sort of meal you get there is, to us well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florry Posted October 16, 2017 #7 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We are also fans, and have had great experiences in the speciality restaurants on Azura. Like Selbourne we only really use the MDR occasionally (usually formal) and have found the quality to vary. The CC board got me drinking Ice Cuvée in the Glass House [emoji23] Have a wonderful cruise! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Selbourne Posted October 16, 2017 #8 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We are also fans, and have had great experiences in the speciality restaurants on Azura. Like Selbourne we only really use the MDR occasionally (usually formal) and have found the quality to vary. The CC board got me drinking Ice Cuvée in the Glass House [emoji23] Have a wonderful cruise! Sent from my iPhone using Forums To be clear, we use the MDR frequently - most days for lunch and probably at least half the time for dinner. In fact, on a 16 day cruise on Aurora in May we used the MDR for around 12 of the evening meals and all were excellent. On our first cruise on Britannia in 2015 (14 nights) we found the Freedom dining service to be rushed and impersonal, so when we returned to the ship in 2016 (7 days) we only ate in the MDR once and used the superb Select Dining restaurants for the 6 other nights. This year, on our 14 night Cruise (again on Britannia) we did 2 nights each in Epicurean, Sindhu and Beach House, with 8 nights in the MDR. 6 of those meals and service were very good. On 2 evenings we were given poor tables, by major waiting stations. It was noisy and service was slow. As stated previously, if Select Dining restaurants didn’t exist I would still Cruise with P&O and still enjoy the meals. Although I wouldn’t agree with Jody75 that MDR quality is ‘disgraceful’ (I actually think it’s very good), the one dreadful meal we were served on our last cruise was indeed a steak! By contrast, the steak served in the Beach House was the best I have ever had! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annieuk Posted October 17, 2017 #9 Share Posted October 17, 2017 When we last ate in The Beach House, can't remember which ship, our problem with that was the meal was huge. The steak was very enjoyable but then I seem to remember it came with huge mushrooms, pile of onion rings and those horrible, fat chips all piled up, plus tomatoes. I would be very happy if I could just have the steak with some french fries and a salad, don't know if I could ask for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Selbourne Posted October 17, 2017 #10 Share Posted October 17, 2017 When we last ate in The Beach House, can't remember which ship, our problem with that was the meal was huge. The steak was very enjoyable but then I seem to remember it came with huge mushrooms, pile of onion rings and those horrible, fat chips all piled up, plus tomatoes. I would be very happy if I could just have the steak with some french fries and a salad, don't know if I could ask for that. That's not a problem. That's a challenge;). Some of us enjoy every mouthful! As they are charging supplements it has to be a decent quantity of food. Just leave it if you don't want it. I'm sure that they would do you a smaller portion if you asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Peterson Posted October 19, 2017 #11 Share Posted October 19, 2017 The Epicurean on Ventura was magnificent last year, in every possible respect, and the breakfasts there were superb. A fantastic start to the day, sitting out in the sunshine. I imagine the Epicurean on Azura will be every bit as good, and I look forward to it immensely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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